apple day -preschool style -deja vu

I'm trying to get back into a routine that allows time for blogging.  Since school started, if I want to make sure there is food prepared, clean clothes to wear, a somewhat tidy house, and homework completed, the end of the day is here and I'm off to bed without a second thought to the computer and potential blogging.  Add soccer and piano lessons and errands and parent emails and a suddenly muddy 5 year old and I'm a hot mess before the sun goes down.

Anyway, I'm enjoying this school year.  I am able to use many items from previous years, which is making this year doable.  I have two classes, which is fun.  One class I find easier.  those 3 year olds are challenging.  Everything about school is new.  and hard.  and not what they necessarily want to do. 

This week we had apple day, which is always a favorite. This was for the Pre-K class.  They are 4ish.  I did several things from last year, but had to rework parts, as this class isn't as strong in math as last year's. 


On the table for arrival time was the new apple stringing activity.

This apple matching activity from last year:

This apple pie activity from two years ago.  

I get asked about the pies on the original post sometimes. They aren't clip art, I just drew them up on construction paper.  It's a brown piece of paper and a white.  The red part is just marker.  People ask.   UPDATED:  Here's a link to a printable version of the pie.  It's black and white, you can trace it onto construction paper or copy and color it.   I'm new to google docs, so let me know if it's not working.

These apple mats for making playdough worms.

 My co-teacher set out the neatest contact paper activity.  I didn't get a picture, but we taped a huge sheet of contact paper to the table, allowing the sticky side to be assessable.  She had cut out a bunch of red apple shapes, green leaf shapes, and brown stem shapes from foam paper.   The kids assembled apples and silly apple pictures on the contact paper.  The best part was that the foam paper peeled right off and we were able to use them another day.

We also had out the apple sensory tub.  This photo is after our play.  It's cute and tidy before they get to it. 

My favorite item in it is these little crocheted apples.  It's a free pattern from Planet June.
  

I read this book again:

We made applesauce again.  Every time I use the rest of my stash of baby food jars, I inherit more.  This summer my dad brought me about 150.   I'm slightly sentimentally attached to them, which is another story, but I'm not letting it stop me.  They got a really good wash and we used them. 

 We cook it in the crock pot all morning long.  

The kids help cut the apples at arrival time.  We give them sliced apples and they use a table knife to dice it up.  It doesn't really matter how tiny they get them. 

Then the leader helps add cinnamon, a little water, and helps me mash and stir a few times.  It cooks up fast.  In about 2 1/2 hours it's done.  I spoon a little into each jar about 1/2 hour before dismissal so that it cools a bit.  Last year, I didn't let it cool.  They were too hot to hold!

 
We sent this sheet home:  (available here)

 I really want to share about our journals, I'll have to take more pictures.  I'm taking them on as my little pet project.  I'm just so excited about them.  We are aiming for one project a week.  I get a few kids to work on it each day and get them all through the week. This week's was apples on Aa.  

They used their little fingertips to stamp red dots and we turned a few into apples. Mostly they love gluing the page into their journals. 

We sang this song with 10 apples on the felt board:

      (add them as you sing)
      1 little, 2 little, 3 little apples
     4 little, 5 little, 6 little apples
     7 little, 8 little, 9 little apples
     10 apples hanging on the tree.
  
    (remove them as you sing)
     pick 1, pick 2,  pick 3 apples
     pick 4, pick 5, pick 6 apples
     pick 7, pick 8, pick 9 apples
     pick 10 apples from the tree.

     peel them, slice them, stir them, bake them, let's make apple pie!

We also sang this little song and I used 5 apples velcroed on a glove for this one, but you could use a flannel board again.

       __5___  red apples, high in the tree,
       apples always taste so good to me.
      So I shake the tree,  one falls to the ground.
      Now there are   ___4___ red apples, juicy and round. 


 Instead of a craft, we made apple pies.  The kids cut up apple pieces again and put them on top of a piece of crescent roll.  They added a bit of butter and a shake of cinnamon sugar.  They pulled up the edges of the crescent roll and put them on foil. We baked them and let them cool and then devoured them. 

I missed doing Apples Up On Top, but it just didn't fit in this year.